Archiological Museum & Pompeii

Our first full day in Naples and we visited the Archiological Museum. For starters: I must mention that Howard has a great deal of difficulty with walking or being on his feet for any length of time (ie: more than 10 minutes at a "standing"). So: lo and behold... they had wheelchairs at the museum! What a blessing. (we are looking forward to his surgery in November which will hopefully fix the back probs)
And... we had one of their guides for 1 hour to give us a general tour and information. It was terrific!

After lunch we walked back into the old medieval area and visited Pio Monte della Misericordia ... a church which houses the most important painting in Naples. It is a Caravaggio depicting "Our Lady of Mercy" for the 1602 charitable institution which built the chapel. The other paintings around the chapel are also by well known artists of the era, and depict the different the 7 corporal works of mercy (burying the dead, feeding the hungry etc. etc.). Truly an impressive chapel!

Next: the following day we had a private guide for a 2 hour tour of Pompei. Ellen, Marshall and I took the train from central Naples to Pompeii and met the guide. (so proud of ourselves for managing the little trip without getting lost!). We had a wonderful guide who really showed us what life was like in 79 a.d. Great insight into how the people lived ... and how they died when Vesuvius erupted. Th view on the previous page looks from the entry of Pompei back towards the sea. It is quite a distance from the water now, due to the amount of ash that added land-mass. In the days of the Romans, it was much closer to the ocean, and it was an important port city.

This would have been too difficult for Howard to navigate, so he stayed behind for the day. It was really amazing to see this excavation and all that has been preserved.